It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog post, so I want to give a little update and let you all know what we are currently working on and what we have been up to over the last weeks and months.

Gutenberg All The Way

After initial doubts, more WordPress users seem to get comfortable using the Gutenberg editor. Honestly, I can totally understand why people reacted sceptically at first. The transition from the classical editor to Gutenberg did feel quite bumpy.

And even now Gutenberg is still continuing to progress rapidly. External WordPress developers like us need to be on their toes and adapt quickly to changes.

Luckily the editor is now way more stable, and it’s easier to know where the development is heading and what new features we can expect. By now it seems that even long time WordPress users got used to the Gutenberg editor interface. New features like Full Site Editing and Block Patterns bring many exciting new possibilities, especially when it comes to WordPress website designs.

Aino As A New Start

Of course we also want to take advantage and make use of all those new possibilities. Therefore Manuel and I have started to develop our Aino theme and blocks project a while back. It just felt like a necessity to start from a blank canvas this time and build up a completely new system that can grow over time.

Our free Aino theme is available on WordPress.org, so it can easily be installed via our WordPress admin menu. We went through a few design update cycles recently, in order to make the theme work perfectly together with our Aino blocks collection.

Our goal is to build a system that makes switching themes unnecessary.

Users will just need to choose a new block pattern set instead and maybe adapt their font and global styles settings if they want to change the design of their website.

The Aino Gutenberg blocks plugin can now also be installed directly via WordPress.org. We are adding new blocks, and the first Aino block pattern set will be available in the next plugin update. We will keep the Aino theme and blocks plugin available on WordPress.org. A premium theme or plugin version is currently not planned.

It would be fantastic if you can leave a review for the theme and our blocks plugin on WordPress.org.

First Aino Block Patterns

Right now, we are working on the first block pattern set for a portfolio or service website. You will be able to choose the patterns from the block patterns library in the next 1.3 Aino plugin update. Block patterns make it easy to include pre-designed templates in your WordPress pages or posts.

Aino block pattern library
Choose pre-designed layouts in the block patterns library.

Here are first screenshots from the ‘Arty Portfolio’ design pattern set:

Portfolio block pattern
An arty Portfolio block pattern.
Team block pattern
A “Meet the Team” block pattern.
Latest posts block pattern
A block pattern to show latest blog posts.

Keep up-to-date with Aino news

The Aino website is now also online and of course, entirely build with Aino blocks. We will add first posts and video tutorials there within the next days so you can learn more about Aino.

The The Aino website.

To get all the latest information, please also consider to subscribe to the Aino newsletter (see Newsletter form on the Aino website). The next projects in the works are:

  • Release of our first free Aino block patterns set “Arty Portfolio”. This will be available with the 1.3 Aino Blocks plugin.
  • Release of first ‘Latest Posts’ block patterns.
  • Support for WooCommerce and default WooCommerce blocks.
  • Relaunch of our Elmastudio website with Aino.

In the long term, we are planning to offer an Aino membership option, which includes premium block patterns, templates, additional design products and courses. Next up, we will focus on building business website and eCommerce solutions with Aino. We will stick with our creative design approach, though. Even business websites shouldn’t all look the same, right :)

We hope you would like to follow us on our Aino journey. You can find us here:

We are looking forward to your feedback, ideas for improvements and bug reports.